The present invention is directed to an apparatus for and method of handling and closing one end of circular knit hosiery blanks.
It has become a common practice to close the toe portions of hosiery blanks by guiding the blanks to a sewing machine. Several automatic machines for carrying out the toe closing operation on a plurality of hosiery blanks by sucessive operational steps are disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,941,069 and 3,859,938. Normally an operator picks up the welt portion of a hosiery blank and holds the toe end in front of a suction tube so as to draw the toe end of the blank into the tube. The operator then draws the blank from within the tube over the outside of the tube thus everting the blank. At the same time the toe end portion is positioned at a specific location on the tube.
In the present invention, a number of the manual operations required in positioning a blank on a loading tube have been eliminated, thus the loading operations are carried out with a minimum of labor.
In one embodiment of the invention, the system includes a hosiery blank support unit having loading fingers displacable in a circular path about a hub. A binder or clamp is attached to a first loading finger for retaining the welt portion of the blank. The loading fingers expand in response to a fluid cylinder to spread the welt portion. A drive motor displaces the garment to a position where the toe end of the blank is drawn by suction into a loading tube. Continued displacement of the blank carries the blank over the exterior of the tube. The loading fingers then collapse, leaving the blank on the tube. The support unit and loading fingers continue to rotate to the original starting position ready to accept a new hosiery blank.
In an alternate embodiment, a plurality of blank support units radiate from the hub. The hub and support units may be controlled to rotate continuously at a selected speed or at intermittent steps having a selected time interval between successive steps.
One of the primary objects of the invention is the provision of a system for loading hosiery blanks onto loading tubes of an automatic toe closing machine.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a novel arrangement for carrying out the loading of blanks with increased productivity by eliminating certain manual operations.
Still another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved system for decreasing operating costs.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent when considered in view of the following detailed description.